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Heartbreaking texts from students on sinking S. Korea ferry

South Korean ferry "Sewol" is seen sinking in the sea off Jindo April 16, 2014.

Apr 17, 2014

SEOUL - Heart-wrenching messages of fear, love and despair, sent by high school students from a sinking South Korean ferry, added extra emotional weight Thursday to a tragedy that has stunned the nation.

Nearly 300 people - most of them students on a high school trip to a holiday island - are still missing after the ferry capsized and sank on Wednesday morning.

"Sending this in case I may not be able to say this again. Mom, I love you," student Shin Young-Jin said in a text to his mother that was widely circulated in the South Korean media.

"Oh, I love you too son," texted back his mother - unaware at the time that her boy was caught in a life and death struggle to escape the rapidly sinking vessel.

Unlike many others, the exchange had a happy ending as Shin was one of only 179 survivors rescued before the ferry capsized and went under the water.

Others were not so fortunate.

Another student, 16-year-old Kim Woong-Ki, sent a desperate text for help to his elder brother as the ship listed violently over to one side.

"My room is tilting about 45 degrees. My mobile is not working very well," Kim messaged.

Seeking to reassure him, his brother said he was sure help was on the way.

"So don't panic and just do whatever you're told to do. Then you'll be fine," he messaged back.

There was no further communication and Kim was listed among the 287 people on board still unaccounted for.

Sadly his brother's advice was similar to that of the crew, who controversially ordered passengers to stay put when the ship first foundered.

Relatives express their frustration to police chief Choi Sang Han (C) during a briefing on the ongoing rescue and recovery operations of the sunken South Korean ferry 'Sewol', at a gymnasium used as a gathering point for family members of missing passengers

Family members of missing passengers, who were on the South Korean ferry "Sewol" which sank at sea, listen along with media to a briefing from an official from the Korea Coast Guard about a rescue and search operation at a port in Jindo

Song Byung-gu and his wife, whose granddaughter was on the ferry Sewol which sank in the sea off Jindo and has been missing, look at the sea with a pair of binoculars as they wait for news from a rescue team

Students hold messages for missing schoolchildren who are among the unaccounted for passengers trapped in a South Korean capsized ferry, posted on the window of a locked classroom at Danwon High School in Ansan

A medic helps the collapsed family member of a missing passenger from South Korean ferry "Sewol", which sank in the sea off Jindo, as she cries while waiting for news from the rescue team, at a gym in Jindo April 18, 2014.

The family member of a missing passenger who was on South Korean ferry "Sewol", which sank in the sea off Jindo, is helped as she cries while waiting for news from the rescue team, at a gym in Jindo April 18, 2014.

The family member of a missing passenger from South Korean ferry "Sewol", which sank in the sea off Jindo, shouts as he complains to officials from the South Korean Coast Guard, as family members listen to a briefing about the rescue operation, at a gym in Jindo April 18, 2014.

The family member of a missing passenger who was on South Korean ferry "Sewol", which sank in the sea off Jindo, shouts as she complains to officials from the South Korean Coast Guard, as family members listen a briefing about the rescue operation

The family member of a missing passenger who was on South Korean ferry "Sewol", which sank in the sea off Jindo, complains to an official from the South Korean Coast Guard as he listens to a briefing about the rescue operation, at a gym in Jindo

A Buddhist monk prays for the missing passengers who were on the South Korean ferry "Sewol", which sank in the sea off Jindo, at a port where family members of the missing have gathered, in Jindo April 18, 2014

Divers prepare for a search and rescue operation for the South Korean ferry "Sewol", which sank in the sea off Jindo, at a port where family members of the missing have gathered, in Jindo April 18, 2014

Divers prepare for a search and rescue operation for the South Korean ferry "Sewol", which sank in the sea off Jindo, at a port where family members of missing passengers have gathered, in Jindo April 18, 2014

Family members of the missing passengers who were on the South Korean ferry "Sewol", which sank in the sea off Jindo, cry as they look towards the port where others have gathered, in Jindo April 18, 2014

South Korean rescue teams, including elite navy SEAL divers, raced to find up to 293 people missing from a capsized ferry carrying 459 passengers and crew -- mostly high school students bound for a holiday island.

About 160 passengers, including high school students, were plucked to safety on Wednesday in a dramatic rescue from a South Korean passenger ferry "Sewol" sinking with 475 on board, officials said, although at least two people had died.

"We heard a big thumping sound and the boat stopped," one passenger told the YTN news channel by telephone. "The boat is tilting and we have to hold on to something to stay seated," the passenger said.

A family member of a missing passenger who was on South Korean ferry "Sewol" which sank in the sea off Jindo cries after finding her son's name in the survivors list at a gym where rescued passengers gathered in Jindo

Family members of missing passengers who were on the South Korean ferry "Sewol" which sank in the sea off Jindo, board a ferry ship heading to the accident site, at a port where family members of missing passengers have gathered, in Jindo

A ferry ship carrying family members of missing passengers who were on the South Korean ferry "Sewol" which sank in the sea off Jindo, sails towards the accident site off a port where family members of missing passengers have gathered, in Jindo

Family members of missing passengers who were on the South Korean ferry "Sewol" which sank in the sea off Jindo wait for the restartof search and rescue operations at a port where family members of missing passengers have gathered, in Jindo

Family members of missing passengers who were on a South Korean ferry "Sewol" which sank in the sea off Jindo cries as she waits for a rescue team's arrival at a port where family members of missing passengers gathered in Jindo